Can registered nurses breach section 9A of the Misuse of Drugs Act and supply foil?


YES!

In professional terms, nurses are bound by the Nursing and Midwifery Council code of conduct.

Although the NMC code of conduct does require Nurses to 'act within the law at all times, whether this relates to their work or not'

It also places an arguably higher duty on nurses to:
  • inform someone in authority if you experience problems that prevent you working within this code or other nationally agreed standards

  • deliver care based on the best available evidence or best practice


Each registered nurse, midwife and health visitor shall act, at all times, in such a manner as to:
  • safeguard and promote the interests of individual patients and clients;

  • serve the interests of society;

  • justify public trust and confidence, and

  • uphold and enhance the good standing and reputation of the professions.


As a registered nurse, midwife or health visitor, you are personally accountable for your practice and, in the exercise of your professional accountability, must:
  • act always in such a manner as to promote and safeguard the interests and well-being of patients and clients;

  • ensure that no action or omission on your part, or within your sphere of responsibility, is detrimental to the interests, condition or safety of patients and clients;

  • recognise and respect the uniqueness and dignity of each patient and client, and respond to their need for care, irrespective of their ethnic origin, religious beliefs, personal attributes and the nature of their health problems or any other factor;

report to an appropriate person or authority, at the earliest possible time, any conscientious objection that may be relevant to your professional practice.

The benefits to individual and public health that can be achieved through providing citric acid alongside advice and information to injecting drug users mean that the provision of citric falls within the ethical requirements of the code of conduct: indeed as the responsibility of the nurse to uphold professional conduct as their highest value, it can be argued that nurses may have a moral obligation to break the law.

As there never has been, and probably never will be a prosecution of a nurse for breach of section 9a of the Misuse of Drugs Act it is a theoretical question only, but is one which should leave the nurse in no doubt about the criteria by which they should determine the most appropriate course of action.

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Exchange Supplies,
1 Great Western Industrial Centre,
Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1RD, UK

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01305 262244

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